Book 16: None of This Is Real

Lexa

I slowly turn to Austin’s voice, opening my eyes to first my feet, then slowly look up at figures standing before me. Dozens of them. Faces I recognize. Eyes I know by heart, now milky and unseeing with death.

My body’s paralyzed with fear when Austin parts the crowd. My regiment. Warriors I trained with since I was a girl.

“Did you love me as I loved you?” he asks, his voice distorted, gravely. His golden hair is stained dark with blood, and his body is… ravaged, by violence and death.

“You’re not real!” I shout, my chest tightening painfully. The warriors behind him fade into the darkness, but he remains. He steps toward me, reaching for me, and I feel the touch on my cheek. I scream, stumbling away from him.

He smirks, sucking his teeth, looking me up and down, his gaze lingering on the mark on my neck, and then his gaze turns murderous. “You were mine!”

“I wasn’t. Not ever. Not during the night we spent together, Austin,